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—41
TION
All About Comins Out
Student organizations focus on understanding y
educating for National Coming Out Week
By Kevin Burns
THE BATTALION
On Oct. 11, 1987, half a mil
lion people marched through the
nation’s capitol for gay and les
bian equality. In honor of that day,
Rob Eichberg, creator of the per
sonal growth workshop “The
Experience,” and Jean O’Leary,
former head of National Gay
Rights Advocates, founded
National Coming Out Day
(NCOD). Since its inception,
NCOD has been a day of aware
ness and general promotion of gay,
lesbian and transgendered equality.
Monday, Oct. 8 through
Sunday, Oct. 14 will be recog
nized by Texas A&M as
Coming Out Week (COW).
Several events will take place
each day, including speakers, a
religious tolerance panel
and an informal lecture on
gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered literature.
Christina Gonzalez,
coordinator of COW
and a graduate assistant
in the Gender Issues
Education Services Office, said
the week will focus on making
students aware of gender-related
topics.
“We try to let people know all
the resources [regarding gendei
issues] and encourage people to
visit all the resource tables and
come to all the events so they
know the kind of support they have
on this campus,” Gonzalez said.
On the surface, being gay may
appear a daunting lifestyle given
Texas A&M’s conservative histo
ry. Yet, Gonzalez said COW is
meant to curb that notion and let
people know of the many gay and
gay-friendly organizations in the
Bryan-College Station area,
including Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgendered Assocation
(GLBTA), ALLIES, Equal Rights
Alliance, the National
Organization of Women,
Universalist Unitarian Church,
The Friends Church, St. Thomas
and St. Francis churches and the
Bryan-College Station Parents and
Families of Lesbians and Gays.
Gonzalez also said there are
various factors of difficulty
regarding homosexuality and
coming out at A&M.
“I think it really depends on
your coming out process,”
Gonzalez said. “If you are very
comfortable with yourself, then
it’s really not that hard, but if you
are dealing with a lot of coming
out issues, then yeah, it can be.”
She noted the campus’ lack of
organizational awareness and
attributes her knowledge of gender
issues to her position with Student
Services.
“I know of all these resources
because of my job,” Gonzalez
said, “but it might not be so obvi
ous for some people if they are in
such a conservative environment.
They might feel there’s no one
there to help them when, in actual
ity, there are a lot of people willing
to help them.”
Bradley Frese, secretary of
GLBTA and a senior management
major said the organization focus
es on student support.
“The importance of [GLBTA]
is that we provide support for
GLBT individuals within the com
munities,” Frese said. “At our
meetings, we have educational
information. We might have some
body come in and talk about how
to protect yourself. At the last
meeting, we had somebody come
in and discuss resources available
on campus to help GLBT students.
“The last purpose is to provide
an environment where GLBT stu
dents can get to know each other
and interact in a social environ
ment without a threat of exposure
or harassment.”
He also said the GLBTA’s
practical approach can help stu
dents cope with the difficulty of
coming out.
“If someone is working on
coming out, we know about the
resources around,” Frese said.
“Several members are very out
and open about [being gay] and
some are more discreet. We have a
whole range of people they can
talk to and interact with.”
Frese described his own com
ing out experience as easy but said
he realizes many students face
more difficult circumstances.
“My coming out experience
was very different than for most
people,” Frese said. “I chose to tell
my family first before anybody
else knew. I have a very support
ive family and it was never a trau
matic experience for me.
Everyone that I have talked to has
been more than supportive about
it.”
Unfortunately, said Frese, not
everybody will have the same
feather landing when coming out.
“From talking to a lot of my
friends it’s not always that way,”
See Coming Out on page 5.
OttOMALLAM* THE UATTAUON
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Tuesday, October 9
7-8pm Rudder Auditorium
Pick up FREE tickets at the Rudder Box Office
Please contact Joe Williams at (979) 845-1515 for more information.
cia.msc.tamu.edu
Persons with disabilites, please call (979) 845-1515
to inform us of your special needs.
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